


Even Robins Need Help Sometimes

by Ednoncosplay



Series: Even Robins Need Help Sometimes [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DC Universe Online, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-14 18:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/839960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ednoncosplay/pseuds/Ednoncosplay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been a while since I’ve written anything creative. I have a lot of ideas I want to use in this story, and consequently, this story is going to be super long. Since I’m mixing the universes up (Young Justice and DC Universe Online), I feel the need to explain a lot, so the first few chapters might be boring. If this sucks, I’m sorry. Constructive criticism is always appreciated!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This “little” chapter is a prelude to the main story. It takes place a year after The Reach Invasion is stopped on the Young Justice show.
> 
> Batman finds a strange wormhole in space and asks Hal Jordan to investigate.  
> Stephanie Brown is attending a birthday party with her crush Tim Drake.

Space had always been a place Batman hated to be. It was cold, dark and desolate, normally the ideal environment for the caped crusader. The idea of space was appealing, but in practice, Batman hated it. He couldn’t survive in it without some sort of life support suit, unlike Superman. Luckily Batman didn’t have to worry about that since he was aboard the Watchtower, the massive satellite-like headquarters for the Justice League. Things in Gotham had been quiet enough for him to give himself and Robin (Tim Drake) the night off. Batman never liked the idea of leaving his hands idle though, and his idea of relaxing was to perform maintenance checks on the Watchtower’s security systems, seeing if he could use any WayneTech technology to make upgrades. 

Even though he was alone, he kept his cowl over his head. It made him feel focused on the task at hand which was to install a new firewall update which he designed with the help of Oracle, the former Batgirl. His fingers lightly pressed into the holographic keyboard laid out in front of him, soft clicks being made as each button was pressed, designed that way so the user would know their commands were going through. As he looked up at the illuminated holographic screen projected in front of him, it showed him various windows of upload progress bars, different software that was being updated with his program, and lists of previous attempts of attacking the mainframe that would now be immunized against. 

Except for the sound of his fingers pressing into the keys and the faint hum of air movement through various ventilation ducts, the Watchtower had been completely still and silent. So when a large holographic screen popped up to the left of him showing an alert and sounding an alarm, even Batman had to resist the urge to jump from being startled. After a few more keystrokes to make sure the computer would be able to continue to work without his aid, he turned his attention to the new screen flashing red on his left.

One of the Watchtower’s cameras had picked up an anomaly in the very fabric of time and space on the other side of the universe. As he touched the screen to zoom in on the anomaly, it looked like a portal or rift was opening, yet nothing was coming through or leaving. Even though he knew wormholes happened all the time, it was rare that anything like that happened in this particular universe without a purpose. Especially after the alien race known as The Reach had almost successfully invaded Earth, Batman had been very cautious towards all things space related in this universe. As he looked down to his left wrist, he twisted a dial of a device that looked like a watch before pressing his right index finger to his ear and speaking.

“Hal. Are you in the sector?” Batman asked.

“I’m… a bit… busy right now, B. What is it?” Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of space sector 2814, answered. Batman could hear the muffled sound of a large jet engine roaring in the background. Back on Earth, Hal being a test pilot, was currently in the middle of a stealth fighter diagnostic test. It was a moonless night, and even though the stars were out, he could barely see and had to rely a lot on instincts and the air craft’s instruments. Batman’s call was disturbing what little concentration he had.

“Did the Guardians mention anything about transporting anything to or from this sector?” Batman asked him. Aside from being very powerful beings that made the Green Lantern Corps, Batman knew very little about the Guardians, which made him dislike them.

“Seriously, B. I’m busy now. Some of us have to actually WORK for what we have.” Hal said as he flew the air craft at a low altitude, dodging and weaving through mountain tops.

“I need you to suit up and come to the tower as soon as possible.” Batman said. He kept his voice as stoic as possible, not leading on to the uneasy feeling he was getting in his stomach. Normally he would investigate himself, but taking a ship out there would take days to reach the area at best. He also needed someone familiar with space territory.

“Can’t you get the big guy on it?” Hal asked, referring to Superman. On his end, he needed to be very vague about what he was saying, there was no telling who could be listening through a helmet radio or something. Just as Batman was going to explain that Superman was with his wife Lois, a bright light emitted on the monitor he’d been looking at. Before he could tell what happened, the camera that was on the portal was fried and the video feed was cut. Moments later, Batman could see that the bright light flashed at the other end of the universe. Just as sudden as it had happened, it disappeared. He never got used to how there was no sound, so seeing such a massive explosion without a followup made him uneasy. 

“Hal. Now.” Batman calmly said.

“I’ll be there as soon as I’m don—- woooah!” He heard Hal say. It had taken a few seconds for the light to reach Earth, but when Hal looked through the cockpit window, it seemed like a oddly shaped flare had gone off outside of Earth’s orbit. “Okay, okay. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

———————————————Meanwhile…———————————————

Just outside of Gotham City, out in the suburbs where tall buildings of light didn’t distract eyes and blankets of smog and gas didn’t completely cover the night sky, the stars were still barely visible. The normally quiet town’s silence was broken by the sound of a house party going on, filled with teenagers listening to music, watching movies, playing games, laughing and telling jokes. But sitting outside on a bench in the backyard was a lone blonde girl that needed to get some fresh air. Stephanie Brown didn’t know many of the people at the party on a personal level; Everyone inside had been a member of Young Justice, telling inside jokes that she wasn’t apart of, so she excused herself. It’d been cold out since it was mid January, so she wore her favorite purple jacket and even wrapped her white scarf around her neck.

“Maybe I should just go home.” She thought to herself, when the reason she came to the party in the first place stepped out onto the back porch.

“Oh! There you are! I was beginning to think you just left without saying goodbye!” Tim Drake said. As he made his way over to her, he jumped a few times and stuffed his hands in his pockets to warm himself, the brisk weather slightly shocking him a bit. Steph quickly shielded her emotions and just smiled, not wanting to worry him.

“Nope, just sitting out here getting some air. I didn’t want to spoil anyone’s fun time by over thinking. Besides, it was getting kinda smelly in there with Garfield changing into a different animal every 5 minutes.” Stephanie joked. Garfield Logan, aka Beast Boy, was a shape shifter and had a bad habit of morphing into large animals while frightened by scary movies. Tim chuckled a bit knowing that wasn’t the reason, but he didn’t pursue an answer from her. “Isn’t it a little dark out for sunglasses, boy wonder?” She asked him. Tim shrugged and removed his hands from his pockets to take off his shades.

“Yeah, it’s a bad habit. I’m too used to wearing something over my eyes. Maybe I’ll get a cowl like Batman’s one day, just without ears.” He said as he looked at her while making his way to sit down. For a brief moment, Stephanie felt her heart stop and the butterflies in her stomach start to flutter as she fell into his blue eyes. She found herself constantly doing that for the past year ever since she had been introduced to the Young Justice team, when they rescued her and a few others from being captured by the alien race known as The Reach.

“Well break the habit. You’ve got really nice eyes, you shouldn’t hide behind a mask all the time.” She said, not wanting to sound too complimentary.

“Right, this is coming from someone who wears a black mask that completely covers her head.” said Tim.

“It doesn’t completely cover my head! …My hair sticks out.” Steph, aka Spoiler, had gotten into the crime fighting club and was being taught and trained (slowly) by junior members of Young Justice when they had the time. Even though she felt like she picked things up naturally, the fact that she didn’t have any powers or many years of athletic experience made her to be a bit of a liability. She was rarely put on a team during missions unless it was something as simple as a patrol route on a quiet night. “Besides, it’s not like I have a habit of covering my face when we’re not in costume.”

“That’s true. Cassie says the same thing, actually. She says I wear shades way too much. Maybe I should start listening to her.” Cassie Sandsmark, aka Wondergirl, was Tim’s girlfriend and it was her birthday today, hence the party and lots of members from Young Justice being inside the warm house. 

“Speaking of Cassie, she wanted to thank you for coming out. It really means a lot to us since we know it’s kind of out of the way for you.” said Tim. He gave her a friendly pat on the knee, which both excited and hurt Steph. It felt nice that he was being any kind of affectionate towards her. She liked him a lot and he was really the only person on the team that would vouch for her abilities, probably because he didn’t have any special powers either. But as much as she enjoyed the brief physical connection, it also hurt her because… well he was in a relationship with a really attractive girl that was strong and had awesome abilities she didn’t. It hurt that she felt she couldn’t compare.

“Yeah, no problem at all.” She said half choking as she swallowed. “She’s really lucky you put all this together for her. You’re an amazing boyfriend for doing this.” Steph gave him a genuine smile. She found her hand on top of his and for a split second she relished in it. But she gave it a firm squeeze before standing up, dragging him up with her.

“Let’s go back inside, Tim, your girlfriend only has a few hours of her birthday left!” She said excitedly as she began to push him back towards the house. She kept the smile on her face as much as it pained her, even though his back was turned. As she looked up before heading into the house, Steph swore she saw a bright star suddenly go out.


	2. Prelude Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the last bit of the intro to my story. I guess this and the previous part weren't exactly needed, but I felt like it was a good way to set up the universe this takes place in (a little bit of Young Justice and a little bit of DC Universe Online) and was a good way to stretch my legs as a writer again. After this, the story really takes off though and will be a lot more interesting, I promise.
> 
> In this chapter, Hal Jordan and Batman find out that something came through the wormhole, but they can't figure out what yet. Feeling uneasy, Batman wants to warn the rest of the Justice League to stay alert.

Hal Jordan floated in space, millions of miles away from Earth. He had stopped off at the Watchtower where Batman had given him coordinates and a strange device that was designed to track residual movement in space. Batman noticed Hal began to zone out as he explained the details of how the device worked and just shoved it at his chest for him to take. Hal didn’t actually need to know the technical details of the device after all, only what to do with it and where.

“Alright, just let it float and be as still as possible. It’s calibrated to ignore your ring’s energy signature, but if you move around too much it might skew the data it collects.” Batman told Hal over the radio. Hal pressed a button on the device and let it float in front of him while using as little muscles as possible to say “Alright, B. Good to go.” As Hal spoke, cube-like grid emerged from the device spreading out over it, growing in size. Hal didn’t move as he watched the light grids grow beyond his peripherals. After a few agonizingly slow moments had gone by, the light grid disappeared back into the device before it turned itself off. Hal sighed in relief.

“Done? Can I come back yet?” He asked into his radio.

“Yes. I should have this analyzed before you get back here. Watchtower out.” said Batman before closing the radio connection.

“…You’re WELCOME.” Hal shouted to himself as he flew back towards the Watchtower. It had only taken him a few minutes to get back since the power of his Green Lantern ring allowed him to travel through space at stellar speeds. When he got back, he had noticed Batman’s face was grim, more so than usual. As he walked towards the large projected screen, he saw the analysis of the device’s scans displayed.

“Something came through the portal. It was cloaked using alien technology that the Watchtower was unable to detect.” Batman said.

“Well. On my way back I contacted Ganthet on Oa.” Hal began. Ganthet was a Guardian of the Universe, probably the only Guardian Hal felt he could trust. “He said there was nothing scheduled by them to go in or out of this sector.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued looking at the data in front of him. “Is that..?”

“Yes. The scanner picked up trace particles of star dust. The light we saw flashing was actually a star going super nova on the other side of the portal. The portal closed before the star fully went out.” Batman said.

“So whatever came through to our side luckily escaped and closed the portal before any damage was done.” Hal said.

“Or was possibly what caused the star to explode in the first place. Hence the cloaking; they didn’t want to be seen escaping the crime scene.” Batman said.

“Ah, Bruce. Ever the pessimist.”

“A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.”

“No, you’re just a really glass-half-empty kind of guy.” Hal said cheerily smiling a bit.

“…Maybe. But my precautions have saved your life more than a couple of times in the past. Go alert the others, tell them to be on the look out for alien activity. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here yet.” Batman said, and that made him uneasy. He was determined to figure out what had come through and what measures he’d need to take if it were hostile.

———————————————Meanwhile…———————————————

Back out in the depths of space on the far side of the universe, a cloaked ship hummed to life as it slowly drifted towards Earth. Aboard the ship was countless civilizations, all of them miniaturized and bottled as samples like they were collector’s items. The owner of these mini cities sat in a large honeycomb-designed room, almost everything inside taking on a hexagon shape. He sat in a large purple thrown chair with an array of instruments and panels laid out in front of him to control the shit. On his chest, two elevated circles were connected to a single lower one by two lines, the symbol glowing as a robotic and monotonous voice began to speak to itself.

“It seems the Reach was unsuccessful with their invasion on Earth. Foolish sentients. I overestimated their ability to play their role in the harvesting of mankind.” Brainiac, a highly intelligent mechanical life form, was known to conquer and destroy worlds after taking a bottled sample of their civilization. His large hand waved over a console and a new screen appeared. “It is time to take a new approach on conquering this weak species. I will have to use their strengths against them and do this from within.” Another wave of the hand and a picture of Lex Luthor appeared on his screen with a small summary of his psychological profile next to it. Immediately, Brainiac planned on using the promise of victory over the Kryptonian to lure Luthor into his scheme.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie Brown has been recruited into the Young Justice team and is slowly being trained by the junior members. On a night out, Tim Drake pays her a visit bearing disappointing news though.

It’d been a few weeks since Cassie Sandsmark’s birthday party. Up high in Gotham City’s skyline, Stephanie Brown sat on the rooftop railing of a building in her eggplant colored Spoiler outfit, her legs dangling off the side of the building. She’d gotten the crash course on grappling hooks and how to swing from building to building without dislocating her shoulder and now she was fairly confident she’d be able to do it if a strong gust of wind managed to push her off the ledge. Only fairly confident, though. Even though it was mid February and winter weather was almost in full swing, her outfit, although simple, was keeping her toasty warm thanks to the advanced technology fabrics it was made out of courtesy of WayneTech.

Technically, she wasn’t allowed to take on any crime fighting activities by herself yet. She’d promised Oracle to take things slow and wouldn’t jump into anything without backup. So once in a while when she got the urge to get into costume, she would go up to the rooftops and took Nightwing’s suggestion of learning traffic patterns of the city just in case she needed to tail a get away car. As she watched the lights below her move and shift in a timely and routine manner, she took a bite of her now cold waffle, her mask lifted over her mouth a bit to allow her access.

“Eating on the job, Spoiler?” A voice called out from behind her. Stephanie turned to see Tim emerging from the shadows in his red and yellow Robin gear. He had an amused look on his face, so she wasn’t worried about him being serious about the food. Still, she felt rude about eating with him there so she dropped the rest of her waffle into a paper bag she had on her before turning her back to the edge of the building so she could face him.

“Boy wonder, are you spying on me?” She said coyly, flashing a smile at him before pulling the mask back over her mouth.

“Me? Spying? Never! I’m just up here, enjoying some of the beauties the night sky has to offer. You just happen to be here as well.” He said jokingly. Steph felt herself grow warm in her cheeks, even though he was only half sincere. It was a good thing she had her mask on and her face was hidden away. “So, Spoiler. What are you doing out here in the cold all by your lonesome self?” Robin made his way over to her and leaned over the railing of the building.

Steph began explaining how she was studying the city and getting to know the streets and the buildings from an architectural point of view to make chases a lot easier for her, all at Nightwing’s suggestion. Robin chuckled a bit.

“Yeah, Batman had me do that too during my first week of training. It’s actually come in handy a few times now. Once, the Penguin and Mr. Freeze teamed up to steal some diamonds and Batman and I had to chase them down…” As Robin began telling her stories of the Batfam fighting crime, she couldn’t help but think of how nice it felt that they shared this moment and view together. Here she was with her crush, him telling her heroic tales, and they were looking over Gotham City’s skyline. She wondered if Cassie Sandsmark ever came up to a spot like this just to be with him.

“I really can’t wait till I can run with you guys. It sounds so exciting and fun! I’ve learned a lot from Batgirl already, I think I’m ready to at least team up with her. But she’s been so busy lately…I haven’t seen her for a training session in a while.” Steph said. Cassandra Cain was the new Batgirl, and was a trained assassin. She took the mantle of Batgirl from Barbara Gordon after she lost the use of her legs and became Oracle. Cassandra had been raised under a strict regime of physical training which stunted her ability to communicate very well. She’d personally taken an interest in teaching Stephanie how to fight in exchange that Stephanie teach her how to read.

“Actually, that’s what I came here to talk to you about.” Robin said seriously. “Something really big has happened. I can’t tell you what, but the rest of us are going to be really busy and we’re not sure for how long. And since a lot of us are going to be away…”

Steph was eagerly hoping he was going to tell her she’d graduate from being a bench player on the team. She was sure she was ready to at least start helping in a slightest bit. Even if it was just something small like taking down a bank robber, it would be a step up in trust from the Batfam.

“We were hoping you’d stay low and hidden until this situation lightens up a bit. Then we can go back to training you.” Robin finished. She felt her heart sink down to her feet. They didn’t believe in her. HE didn’t believe in her.

“I… I don’t…” was all she could mumble. She was at a loss for words, shocked by how much it stung to begin with.

“Listen, it’s… It’s for your own safety. I… WE don’t want you getting hurt. Things are going to get really bad before they get better.” Robin was aware he’d hurt her feelings but was surprised at how bad she looked. Maybe he should have chosen his words more wisely. “It would just be easier if…”

“Oh, I get it. If I’m not out there, I can’t mess anything up for anyone either.” She said, her words charged with anger as she scowled under her mask.

“This isn’t ME, this is ALL of us!” Robin said in defense, wanting to get the heat off him himself.

“So ALL of you think I’m useless then? That’s wonderful. Y’know, boy wonder, for a genius hero, you’re really stupid when it comes to saving people from hurt feelings. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have traffic to study.” She turned away from him, not sure if she was upset at him or the rest of the Batfam, or maybe herself for getting her hopes up. She couldn’t figure out where the blame was supposed to be placed and it made her feel like crying.

Robin didn’t know what else to say that wouldn’t make the situation any worse. He felt defeated himself. But he knew it was the right thing to do. He liked her, but there were bigger things to be done than watching over her and making sure she was okay.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered before shooting his grappling gun to another roof and swinging away. Steph exhaled loudly trying to fight back a scream as she brought her gloved hands up to her masked faced. As she collected her things to get ready to leave, a hooded figure watched from a nearby rooftop, cigarette burning in hand. With a final drag, the figured dropped the cigarette to the ground before stomping it out with a heavy boot while putting a red helmet over his head.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Metropolis is under attack by Brainiac, he’s bottled up the Daily Planet and no one can get in or out. Stephanie Brown runs into the Red Hood for the first time and spoils his attempt at murder.

Stephanie woke up in her bed and groaned as she rolled over, her body was sore after last night’s activities. After Robin had left her on the rooftop, she spent a portion of her time sulking before she turned that negativity into something productive, like grappling from rooftop to rooftop for practice. She was becoming quite adept at it and was starting to land without the fear of spraining an ankle. As she yawned and rubbed her eyes, she looked at her purple illuminated clock in the dark. It was 10:30 a.m. Why was it so dark then? Struggling to inch her way up to the head of her bed where her window was, she peaked out and saw it was snowing heavily.

“Ugh, no classes today anyway. What a waste of a snow day.” She thought to herself. As she inched her way back down the bed, she turned on her laptop that was placed on a desk next to her bed and curled up into a ball under the covers while waiting for it to boot up. Moments later she’d be sitting at her desk on her computer with a hot cup of tea to her side and a half eaten waffle in her mouth. As she scrolled down her Tumblr dashboard, she saw news that made her jaw drop, incidentally making the waffle fall into her lap.

“United States under alien attack!” the title read. There was a picture of the Daily Planet in Metropolis bottled up in some sort of force field and various members of the Justice League attacking the field, trying to get through or bring it down. Stephanie grabbed her remote and turned on the small television in her room hoping it was just another fake Tumblr story.

“Not much else can be reported on this, unfortunately.” The news reporter on the television said. “We’re only aware that it happened at 8 a.m. this morning when several pods had fallen from the sky forming a square around the building. Some sort of force field was raised around the building from the pods. So far the Justice League hasn’t been able to get through, and we believe communication with anyone inside has been cut off.”

“Is this what Tim was talking about..?” Steph thought. She picked the waffle up from her lap and tossed it onto the plate on her desk before disappearing into her closet. As she slipped out of her Batman pajamas and into her Spoiler outfit, she continued to listen to the tv.

“This just in, there are several alien forces being teleported down around the Daily Planet. They attempted to attack the Justice League, but were quickly subdued. It’s unconfirmed as to what these beings are, but they appear to be robots manufactured by Brainiac.”

Today was going to be a busy hero day.

——————————————————————————————

An hour later, Spoiler was running across the rooftops of several low-rise buildings. She was in a residential area where the houses were only three or four stories tall. Her attempts at being proficient at parkour were being hindered by the snow and she found herself sliding and slipping more than she would’ve liked. In most scenarios, people would stay in their homes in fear of more alien attacks across the country. In Gotham, it just meant that stores were unattended to and thieves could get away with a lot more, and with so many of them out at once the GCPD would be stretched thin. As Spoiler sat perched on the corner of a building thinking of what she could do to help, her phone suddenly rang and broke her train of thought.

“Hey Mom!” She said brightly. “How are things at the hospital?” Her mother was a nurse, which she thought was amazing since she’d had a rough road of drug use a few years prior. She was really proud of her mother turning her life around.

“It’s not going too well, sweetie. I might have to be here a few nights in a row. There’s a lot going on in Metropolis right now, did you hear? They’re shipping some of the patients they can’t handle here.” Metropolis and Gotham were like sister cities, only a few hours away from each other. It wasn’t unheard of that they’d share the patient load during a big crisis. “I don’t know what’s going on exactly, but it sounds really bad.”

“Yeah… I saw it on the news when I woke up this morning. Are you okay there? Do you need me to bring you anything? Coffee and a bagel?” Stephanie said, smiling a bit.

“No, I’m fine here. Just promise me you’ll stay safe and out of trouble, okay? Be careful.” Her mother said.

“Don’t worry. I’ll probably stay at Cassandra’s house while you’re gone so I won’t be alone then.” Stephanie said. She didn’t like lying, but it would be relatively true. She hoped.

“Oh, that nice Chinese girl? That’s good. Is her house-hosts going to be around too?” Her mother was under the impression that Cassandra Cain was a foreign exchange student.

“No, I think her family is going to be really busy too…” At least this part wasn’t a lie.

“Help! Somebody help me!” A man screamed at the top of his lungs a few blocks away from Stephanie’s direction. She cupped the microphone area of her phone, hoping her mother on the other end of the line didn’t hear it.

“I gotta go, mom. Call me if you need anything. Love you!” Steph said as she stood up and started running towards the scream. She waited a few seconds for her mother to say “Love you too” before hanging up the phone and shoving it back into her utility belt. She was at full sprint now, heading towards the direction of the screaming.

After jumping onto another rooftop, she peered over the edge into a narrow alley way to see a small man with glasses running away from another man wearing a red helmet and tan leather jacket. She could see that the one in the helmet was reaching into his jacket to draw a gun. Time felt like it slowed down and sped up simultaneously, something that was never depicted in movies. She knew she didn’t have any time to think but it felt like her mind was already made up as every muscle in her body started to coil up as the adrenaline pushed it’s way through her veins. Maybe she was still thinking that she had to prove Tim and everyone else wrong, but she jumped from the three story rooftop.

“Halt, criminal!” She shouted. She was new at this and didn’t have any lines ready. Plus with all the excitement she was feeling, that’s all she could think of. Just as the red hooded man fired, she connected and tackled him to the ground, his gun falling from his hands a few feet away from them. Spoiler pinned him down and saw the small man with the glasses on run away around a corner. She smiled under her mask, feeling victorious that she had just stopped a murder. If the man underneath her didn’t have his helmet on, she’d see him give her the biggest eye roll ever.

“Are you kidding me?” He huffed, his voice sounding slightly mechanized probably from a voice modifier built into the helmet he wore.

“Kid, I don’t have time for this right now.” He hooked his leg around hers and rolled both of them over. Now that he was on top of her, he leaned in close, his mask only inches away from her own.

“Maybe we can do this again later though.” As he pushed himself up, he picked up his gun from the floor and started chasing after his target again, who had escaped the alley and started running down small side streets.

Spoiler was up in a matter of seconds, running after the red hooded man while reaching into her utility belt. She started unraveling a grappling line and tied the end so it would work like a lasso, something she’d learn how to do from Wondergirl. When she reached a good distance, she threw the line around the red hooded man but he suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. Before Spoiler could make the wire go taut around him, he grabbed the wire himself and yanked it towards him. The unexpected movement made her stumble forward and into him. It felt as if she ran into a brick wall and she let out an audible “oof” before falling down backwards.

“That’s really kinky of you, blondie. But you should at least take me out to dinner first.” He said as he undid the hoop around his waist. Before Spoiler could get up, he wrapped the hoop around her wrists and ankles and started tying her up, forcing her in a fetal position. The wire was only supposed to temporarily hold her off for a few minutes, so there was lots of slack and it was relatively loose. He couldn’t spend that much time to make a good knot since he his target was getting away.

“Now, be a good girl and stay here.” He said as he ran away. Spoiler was stuck there, fuming at how embarrassing the situation had been. Not only was she defeated by her target, but he had used her own tools against her too. As she began to shimmy out of the long wire and untie herself, she grumbled thinking about how Tim may have been right.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler catches up with Red Hood and gets a brief introduction to The Outlaws! She tries to take on Red Hood by herself, but Robin comes and “saves the day."
> 
> Author’s Note: Okay, it’s long, I know, but I didn’t want to break this up into two chapters. Also, I need some feedback because this is the point where I decide to continue or not. I have ideas mapped out from here, but they haven’t really been fleshed out yet and I’m not sure if I should spend more time on it. So feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

It only took Spoiler a few minutes to wiggle out of the grappling line and untie herself. She got to her feet and sprinted, hastily rolled the line up before putting it into a utility belt compartment, knowing that each second counted in trying to stop the would-be murderer. The fresh fallen snow was helpful in tracking the masked man, the two sets of footprints were a dead giveaway to which direction they both went. After four blocks of tracking through narrow back alleys, she heard a scream again, and another gunshot before it went quiet.

Fearing she was too late, Spoiler turned a corner into an alley where she heard the scream and gunshot come from. She nearly bumped into a man standing on guard at the entrance. His head was shaved, he wore a black domino mask, and his outfit was mostly black with the exception of a few red accents on his sleeveless shirt. As Spoiler stood there, surprised, he raised his metallic right index finger to his lips to shush her. Spoiler tensed and dropped to a fighting stance ready to press forward and show she wasn’t intimidated.

“Please, give our friend a minute.” A soothing voice said to her from behind as she felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. Spoiler turned around and froze from what she saw; a beautiful woman with orange skin, glowing green eyes, and long red hair that looked like it was on fire somehow, was floating in front of her now. “Many lives depend on the information he has. We will get him medical attention after he cooperates.” Spoiler couldn’t believe what she was seeing and just gawked, the floating girl was practically wearing nothing but a purple bikini (which she took half a second to admire) and the cold didn’t seem to bother her at all. The sound of a man crying brought her back to reality though.

“Amusement mile! Amusement mile! He’ll be there at 9!” The man cried out, which she barely heard since she’d been half a block away. She peered over the man guarding the entrance of the alley to see that the red hooded man was pressing his gun into a wound on the smaller guy’s leg causing blood to gush out.

“You’d better be right about this, or I’ll find you. And the next shots will take out your knee caps.” The red hooded man said, holstering his gun in his jacket while getting up. “Arsenal!” He yelled out, as he walked towards the alley entrance. “Patch him up. Starfire, drop him off at the nearest hospital. We got the information we need.”

Arsenal unfolded his arms and started walking to the back of the alley towards the crying man that was bleeding out. Spoiler got a better view of the scene now and immediately felt nauseated after seeing all the blood. She saw Arsenal tend to the man, making a tourniquet then spraying some kind of foaming agent into the wound and it came out the other side of his leg. At that point, she had to lean against the wall in fear of fainting.

“Meet back at safehouse B in an hour.” the red hooded man said to his companions as he reached the entrance of the alley where Spoiler stood.

“She does not look well either. Should I escort her to the hospital as well?” Starfire asked him. He just looked at Spoiler, waiting for her to answer for herself.

“No, no… It’s just the sight of blood… it gets to me sometimes.” Spoiler said.

“Hurry, Star. I think I hit an artery.” He said.

“What is an artery?” She looked perplexed as she just floated there, not realizing how dire the situation was.

“I’ll explain later. Just go. See you in an hour.” Starfire just gave a nod to her before floating over to Arsenal and the man. Spoiler turned her attention back to the red hooded one who was now holding out a pack of cigarettes towards her. His mask was now off and she could hear his voice clearly this time around.

“Smoke?” He asked. Her eyes went to his lips holding an unlit cigarette loosely and she could see the stubble around his chin. Then she looked up, noticing he still wore a red domino, and saw that his hair was mostly black with a tuft of white strands in the front. Arsenal had made his way back to them and Spoiler shook her head, both answering his question and trying to snap out of staring at him for too long.

“Arsenal…” she said to herself. Something in her brain clicked. “Hey wait, you’re that guy, that uh.. the old Green Arrow sidekick, right?” She asked. He gave a brief look of disgust as if she spit in his face.

“…I was his partner, not his sidekick.” He glared at her and she felt the need to shrink back. “And that was a lifetime ago.”

“Okay, Speedy.” The one wearing the red domino laughed lightly while he lit his cigarette and took a drag.

“And what do I call you?” she asked as she turned her attention to him, putting her hands on her hips. She could tell he raised an eyebrow as if she said something completely ridiculous before responding.

“You don’t call me anything. This doesn’t concern you. We’re done here.” He turned and started walking, Arsenal following, folding his arms back over his chest as they walked.

“I’m sick of everyone telling me what I can and can’t do. I’ve heard enough to know you’re going to Amusement Mile for something later. And you didn’t kill that snitch, so I know you’re not bad people. But if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m going to have to call the Justice League on you guys. You may not be the bad guys, but I know you don’t work with the JL, otherwise I would’ve heard of you.” The red dominoed man and Arsenal just looked at each other as if they were telepathically communicating.

“Kid, did you even think that one through? Even if you contacted the League and told us where we’re going, they wouldn’t waste their time on trying to figure out what we’re up to. I don’t know if you’ve watched the news or not, but we’re in the middle of a war right now.” Arsenal said to her coldly. The red dominoed one lightly laughed and nodded in the opposite direction as he looked at Arsenal, motioning for him to leave.

“I’ll take care of this. See you in an hour.” He said simply. Arsenal huffed.

“I dunno whyyy you get to make the calls when they’re all stupid ones.” Arsenal flung his arms up in the air and gave a heavy sigh as he began to walk away. “Especially when it comes to girls.” He’d muttered at a distance now.

“So. I’m the Red Hood.” He said, flicking his cigarette to the side in the snow before folding his arms over his chest. “And I’ve already shot one man before breakfast today. What’s to stop me from shooting you?”

“You could have in the alley, but you didn’t. And you could’ve killed that guy, but you didn’t. In fact you even told your friend Starfire to get him medical help. So you can’t be a bad guy.” She said fairly confidently.

“I can be bad if I wanted to, and you’re really testing my patience this morning, blondie.” He raised his hand and made a gun out of his fingers, using his index and middle finger to point at her. Spoiler took this as a challenge and dropped down to her fighting stance again, hoping this time she’d actually be able to fight him. His arrogant and teasing attitude was annoying her and she wanted to wipe that smile off his attractive face.

“You don’t scare me, Red Hood. I’ve been trained by Batman and Batgirl.” She said bluntly, even though it was more of a bluff. She’d only gotten a few lessons from both of them combined. He raised his eyebrows, mocking an impressed expression.

“Oooh, the Batman? I hear anyone he trains turns out to be tough as nails.” He didn’t bother assuming any fighting stance, instead he just motioned to her to come forward with both hands at his sides. “Let’s see what a Batman-trained girl can do then.”

As Spoiler lunged, throwing a flurry of combinations she’d learned, the Red Hood seemed to be able to dodge or counter all of them. She never got to lay a hand on him or connect, which made her frustrated, and that caused her to get even more sloppy when it came to fighting. Not only was he easily and tauntingly parrying her attacks, he also had more endurance than her. She found herself out of breath very quickly since she wasn’t used to being on the attack for so long.

Every punch she threw, he’d grab her wrist and yank her to the side, causing her to stumble. Every kick she tried was batted away. And through the long minutes of fighting, she realized what this truly was. He wasn’t actually in this fight to win, he was sparring with her, testing her, and giving her unspoken lessons. As she realized this, her anger subsided a bit and their movements became more of a playful dance, though she still tried to hit him at least once.

“You’ve got potential kid. But your moves are really basic.” As he said this, Spoiler finally landed a kick to his side. She felt triumphant at first but realized he meant to do this on purpose. Wrapping his arm around her leg, he now held it in position, making her unable to retract. She was exposed now, and all it took was the Red Hood to lightly push and sweep her one foot out from under her. Spoiler landed on her back, the snow cushioning her fall. Red Hood let her leg go, but quickly pinned her to the ground just as he had before he tied her up.

“If you want to fight the real bad guys, you need to mix it up and learn how to fight dirty.” He said, his hands pressed her arms out and to her sides. It wasn’t the snow that made her shiver, but the emphasis on the way he said “dirty” as well as the compromising position they were in. She felt herself blush under her mask again as she was forced to look at his face in a close proximity.

“I’m guessing you like it rough, huh?” She asked him, her tone of voice turning slightly playful. He just smiled in response and his hands loosened their grip as if he was playfully taunting her to try something. Unconsciously she licked her lips before she got her arms free from his grasp, though he stayed still, intrigued with what she would do. Her left hand found the collar of his tan jacket and she pulled him close as if she were about to kiss him through her mask. She could see him smiling, his arrogance had blinded him and he let his guard down.

Just before his lips brushed her mask, he felt the cold steel pressed up against the collar of his turtleneck. She’d reached into his jacket and with a sleight of hand pulled his gun out and pressed it to the underside of his chin. Red Hood didn’t look shocked, though. They both knew she would never use it, but he was impressed nonetheless.

“Dirty enough?” She asked sternly, dropping the sultry tone. She used the gun to push his face away slightly, giving herself some room to breathe. Red Hood sat up straight and sighed heavily before running his gloved hand through his hair. She finally noticed he was panting from the sparring now too.

“You’re getting there, blondie. But maybe I let you do that. Maybe I like seeing the good girl get dirty. It’s not a bad look on you.” He said as he nodded towards the gun. She looked at her hands as she had the gun pressed against him. Just as she was about to hand it back to him and thank him for the “dance,” their dangerously flirtatious moment was cut short when Robin called out from down the street from behind Red Hood.

“Spoiler!” he yelled. Red turned his head slightly and saw the boy wonder closing the gap. He jumped up from his pinning position over her and reached into a pocket on his utility belt.

“See you around, kiddo.” He said as he threw a marble down. Black smoke engulfed them and Spoiler quickly used the cover to hide the gun she still had, tucking it in the back part of her waistband of her utility belt, her cape covering it. As Robin got to her, he used his cape to fan the smoke away. When it cleared, the Red Hood was gone and Spoiler was still on the floor.

“Are you okay?” He asked, instead of offering to help her up he looked around on alert with his telescoping bo staff drawn.

“I’m fine… Thanks, Robin.” She grumbled as she got up and started wiping the snow off of her cape, careful not to expose the gun she had hid. A few seconds went by and Robin collapsed his staff, convinced that the area was clear.

“I thought I told you to lay low and stay out of costume.” He said, frustration in his voice as he glared at her.

“I don’t take orders from you when we’re not on a mission together. You may be in charge of Alpha team, but you’re not in charge of me as a solo act. And I don’t need you babysitting me.” She said, equally as frustrated.

“Obviously, you do. What would’ve happened if I hadn’t shown up?” He asked.

“Probably something really sexy.” She thought. She remained quiet though and just glared back. Eventually Robin lost the staring contest and sighed.

“Do you at least know who he is? Or what he wanted?”

“He called himself Red Hood and that was it.” She lied. She didn’t feel the need to tell everything she knew to Robin, which was against her better judgement. But the way he was treating her, he didn’t deserve to know either.

“Red Hood… that sounds really familiar. I’ll have to ask Oracle if she knows anything.” He mumbled to himself as if she wasn’t there. “Listen. I’m serious about staying low. Go home right now, Spoiler.”

“You are such a control freak! You’re just like Batman!” She said. She knew it would hurt him. Timothy Drake had always expressed how he never wanted to be the next Batman. “You don’t think I’m good enough to tell me the truth about Brainiac. I had to learn from the news this morning. How are you going to order me around like a team mate if you don’t even have the decency to give me information like one?” She asked rhetorically. Robin was shocked, and she could tell, but he wore his scowl without flinching. It was something Batman often did, a habit he unknowingly picked up from him.

“You’re on a need-to-know basis, Spoiler. This didn’t concern you.” He finally said. She was so sick of hearing that from everyone.

“…I’m going home to get out of these wet clothes, not because you told me to.” She lied, feeling the emotional aggravation begin to drain her physically. Spoiler had no intention of continuing to bicker with Robin as if they were an old married couple. He could be cute sometimes, but once he put on the costume, he had a superiority complex around her. As she turned her back on him and began walking away, she pulled out a small device on her that showed a radar. On the green screen was a red dot of a tracking device, making it’s way south east before it finally stopped.

“Safehouse B.” She thought. She had about 20 minutes to get there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Spoiler finds the Outlaw’s safehouse and joins the team!
> 
> Author’s Note: This chapter is another long one, but it was necessary. There’s lots of dialogue between Steph and Barbara. It may get kind of emotional. But this chapter is basically the perfect reason why I think Steph would’ve made a good Outlaw.

Stephanie quietly snuck into the room through the window, finding herself in a large bedroom of a hotel suite. She’d used the tracking device she put on Red Hood to find where he went, but figuring out what floor he’d been on was tricky. This was her fourth try and she was beginning to have her doubts when she heard voices talking in the next room.

“You have the schematics for Amusement Mile?” Red Hood asked. She could tell his helmet was off from the sound of his voice.

“Well, I was able to dig up the city’s version of the blueprint. No telling what Joker has done to the interior though.” Roy said. Stephanie made her way deeper into the room and peeked around the corner to see the trio sitting on a cough, their backs to her. In front of them was a large illuminated 3D projection of the amusement park.

“I do not understand why we cannot simply go in with a frontal assault and blast our way through.” Kory said nonchalantly.

“Well, sweetie, not everyone on the team is as strong as you.” Roy said as he wrapped his good arm around her shoulder. Stephanie quietly tiptoed into the room, trying to be as quiet as possible as she looked over their shoulders to see the 3D map. Red Hood’s movement made her freeze in place momentarily as he took off his helmet and peeled off his domino, placing both of them on an empty spot on the table.

“Okay, so… there’s the park entrance. How do we get inside that stupid tent?” Red Hood asked Roy as he rotated the display, not seeing any obvious openings.

“Dude, I haven’t been to Amusement Mile in years, and it was mostly just for the roller coaster. Fun houses scare me.” Roy said. Jason just rolled his eyes. A few moments of silence went by before Stephanie made her move. Clearing her throat to announce she was there, she pointed to the display, her arm reaching over Red Hood’s shoulder.

“There’s a, uhm… That clown mouth is an entrance. The exit is somewhere underground, it helps keep the illusion that people go in but don’t come out.” She said sheepishly. She was surprised that none of them jumped as she sneaked her way into the conversation. They just looked up at her in silence for a bit.

“Well, hey, Brown! Nice of you to join us, now it’s a party!” Roy said smugly as he smiled up at her.

“…Pardon?” She asked, not sure if she heard him right, if he was calling her a name or if he actually knew her last name.

“Roy’s been keeping tabs on the old team.” Red Hood said just as smug as Roy.

“Stephanie Brown. Age 18. Attending Gotham University. Father is former criminal Taskmaster, Mother is a recovering drug addict that now works at Gotham General Hospital.” Roy said.

“It’s kinda scary how bad their security is nowadays.” Jason commented. 

“Well yeah, I’m not on the team to help keep things up to date anymore.” Roy said. Stephanie was still shocked, not sure if she should be furious about Roy looking up files on her or that Oracle had files on her to begin with.

"That tracer you put on my collar was pretty smooth, by the way. Very subtle, I liked it." He said as he reached for his collar and unhooked a small black button-sized device. As the two boys joked, Kory saw how apparent it was that Stephanie was upset.

“Relax, friend. Your secret will be safe with us.” She chimed in, being the calming voice of reason she normally was. “Why don’t you have a seat with us? We could use your expertise of this amusing mile.”

Stephanie stood weighing her options, but her mind was made up when she saw Red Hood skoot over and pat his hand on the spot next to him. She gave an audible huff as she lowered her hood and took off her mask. There was no point in trying to keep them on since they knew who she was. Just as she was about to step forward, something interrupted her.

“Um…Hello?” Stephanie asked.

“Hi?” Red Hood responded rather confused as he looked at her.

“No, not you. Sorry, it’s one of my bosses.” She said as she pressed on her earpiece, making her way back through the doorway she came through. The Outlaws just sat on the couch wondering what just happened.

“She is an odd one that talks to herself. You may want to watch out for this one.” Kory said to Red Hood who laughed at the irony of her calling someone else odd.

Stephanie made her way outside to the fire escape just outside the hotel’s bedroom window so she had some privacy to take this call.

“What’s up, O?” she asked as she leaned over the edge, taking a look around the neighborhood.

“Spoiler, where the heck are you? I tried calling your house to check up on you.” Oracle, also known as Barbara Gordon, sounded upset, stressed, and frustrated as she spoke to her.

“Let me guess. Robin told on me.” Stephanie said rolling her eyes.

“He was worried about you. Do you even know what’s going on in the world right now?” Barbara asked.

“YES, okay, I get it, we’re all in danger. But—“

“On top of that, you’re hanging out with this Red Hood fellow now?” Barbara cut her off, clearly wanting this to be a one sided argument. “Robin asked me to look him up. It’s not the same one Batman used to fight, but this one is still dangerous. He’s got 80 kills attached to his name, and those are only confirmed ones.”

“I’ve talked to Red Hood, he honestly doesn’t seem that bad. He might use a little excessive force, but maybe that’s what this city needs right now to keep people in line…” Stephanie couldn’t believe she said that herself. But it was a bad time, the world was being invaded by an alien force that threatened annihilation. Petty thugs and crooks shouldn’t be allowed to run free when there were bigger things to deal with.

“Spoiler, can you please just do what we say and stay out of this? You need to go home. It’s dangerous out right now.” Barbara’s tone had calmed down, trying to play the caring friend card with her.

“O, I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine. He’s planning to take down the Joker and I’m thinking about—“

“No. You’re not ready for something like that. You don’t know if you can trust him, he’s a wanted killer.” Barbara cut her off again.

“I know he’s been the only person that’s been willing to give me a chance. You always say I’m not ready, but no one ever takes the time to help train me so I can be!” Stephanie was yelling, frustrated that no one ever listened to her.

“I told you, Spoiler, we’ve all been busy.” Oracle said calmly.

“With what, Oracle? What is so important that has the entire Justice League, the entire Young Justice team, and even the Birds of Prey busy? Brainiac is attacking, but everyone is busy with that?” Stephanie asked. She heard Barbara heavily sigh on the other end as if she was giving up.

“There are… people popping up. People that’ve been exposed to Brainiac’s exobytes. The exposure has changed a number of them, and some of them are starting to develop powers.” Barbara explained. Stephanie let that sit for a second. She was angry. Very angry.

“So. Everyone is busy because they’re training people with powers and abilities.” She said dryly through clenched teeth. “And I’m getting put on the bottom of the list because apparently there’s nothing special about me.”

“Spoiler, this is about priorities. We’re training them to help control and maintain their powers so they don’t hurt anyone. And if they can help us, that’s even better for our chances at driving Brainiac back.” Barbara’s tone changed again, hoping Stephanie would understand.

“Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl don’t have any meta abilities, but they’re out there fighting and saving people.” Stephanie said.

“They have years of training though.” Barbara explained.

“So? Just because I can’t fight like them doesn’t mean I can’t help. You of all people should know that, Oracle.” It was a very low blow, but she had a valid point. She felt like crying at this point. This argument wasn’t going anywhere and it was just hurting both of them.

“Stephanie…”

“No. I’m sick of this. I’m joining Red Hood.” Stephanie said as she wiped at her eyes.

“I told you, he’s dangerous. You can’t trust him.” Barbara repeated. Before Stephanie could respond though, she felt a hand on her face. Red Hood cupped her cheek as she looked at him in the eyes now. As he brought his face close to her, she blinked a few times to mask the tears that were on the edge of falling. Red Hood’s mouth was close to hers as his fingers reached up to her earpiece.

“Relax, Barbie. She’s in good hands.” He said barely just above a whisper. Before either of the girls could respond, he lightly tugged the earpiece out and crushed it in his hand, throwing the remains to the side off the fire escape. He leaned over the railing next to her in silence for a few moments before speaking.

“It hurts, doesn’t it.” He said, more of a statement than a question. “When you know you can handle something, but no one believes in you. No one has faith in your abilities, so you go off and do what you need to. And even if it turns out right, they still get mad at you.” She could tell he was speaking from experience, but she felt so emotionally drained to really respond right away. A few seconds of silence passed by as the two just looked at the snow below them.

“If you guys have space for me, I’d like to help.” She said quietly at first. “I… I know I can help.” She added with more confidence. He looked at her in silence for a few moments as he considered it.

“On one condition. You stick close to me and follow my orders. You observe, but don’t engage unless I tell you to. Got it?” He asked.

“Got it.” She said. He shook his head at himself, not believing he was allowing her to help his team with this mission.

“…Just don’t die.” He mumbled as he got off the railing and took a step towards the window. That one line made everything come together in Stephanie’s mind. The way he looked familiar, the way he knew the moves Batman and Batgirl taught her, the way he talked to Oracle like he knew her.

“You… you’re the second Robin! Jenson Todd!”

“…Jason.” He corrected her.

“Jason! Jason Todd!” She practically jumped in excitement as she solved the puzzle, the sadness she felt minutes ago melting away. “The others… they don’t know you’re alive then?”

“I’m not ready for them to see me yet.” He said as he shook his head.

“There’s a memorial of you on the Watchtower… when you were Robin.” Stephanie said, realizing he’s probably never seen it.

“That memorial is for a Robin long gone. I’m Red Hood now.” Jason said as he stepped into the window back into the room. “You’d better get that right if you’re going to work with us.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may have some weird pacing issues. I’ve been reading a lot of comics lately, and it made sense in my head to do it like this when I was writing it, but after reading it myself.. not so much lol. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has told me to keep going with this, even if I have to take my time and do it at my own pace. Comments and messages are always greatly appreciated.

Stephanie was sitting on her bed still in her Spoiler outfit, her cell phone in hand. She’d just left a message for her mother at the hospital since it was busy there. A sense of guilt and loss bubbled up in her stomach, hoping that when she woke up the next morning, she’d find that the past twenty four hours were a dream. But a loud scream coming from her basement anchored her back to reality. Tossing the phone on her bed, Stephanie ran down two flights of stairs to the basement. The lighting wasn’t the best, but she could see Jason, shirtless and sweaty, holding her hanging punching bag to steady it.

“Jesus, Jason. You scared the crap out of me.” She said. It wasn’t a surprise that he was down there, they’d gone back to her place after the mission, but the scream unsettled her. Jason gritted his teeth as his jaw clenched tightly, taking a deep breath to calm down before speaking.

“Sorry…” Was all he could muster.

“At least he’s talking now…” Stephanie thought. He’d been silent the entire walk home from Amusement Mile and Stephanie didn’t know what to do. As Jason’s hands rested on the punching bag, she could see his knuckles were cut, bruised and slightly bleeding.

“I’ll go get you some bandages for that…” Stephanie said quietly. Rummaging through the mirror cabinet in the bathroom, she took out a bottle of alcohol and some gauze. As she looked in the mirror, she sighed heavily. There was a tired and drained face looking back at her, one in much need of sleep, but she shook her head and headed back to the basement. How had everything turned out so wrong?

********Three hours ago********

“Red, it’s been close to two hours now.” Spoiler said with a shiver. The new Waynetech thermal suit she had on was useful but it couldn’t work miracles, especially since they weren’t actively moving. Red Hood sat next to her on a bench on a broken down carousel ride at the Amusement Mile and it’d been quiet all night. He leaned forward with his elbows on the bench in front of them, looking over at the door they were scoping out once more. Shifting a bit, he removed his jacket and threw it over her unceremoniously like a blanket.

“Arsenal. Anything?” He asked into his earpiece.

“Quiet as a church here.” Arsenal responded. Arsenal and Starfire were positioned on top of the ferris wheel parallel to their position. Though Starfire could fly around, Arsenal needed the birds eye view to get maximum coverage.

“Alright. We’ll give it another half hour then call it a night. The rookie looks cold.” Red Hood said.

“You humans are so unfortunate with your inability to withstand cold climates.” Starfire chimed in.

“Arsenal, weren’t you wearing a sleeveless shirt?” Spoiler asked.

“Yeeeah… Starfire is keeping me pleeenty warm.” He said. Red Hood and Spoiler just looked at each other as if they could hear him smiling smugly. He gave a long exaggerated sigh over the mic.

“What? We can multitask!” Arsenal said.

“Okay, Speedy. Just keep your eyes open.” Jason only called him that when he was annoyed with him, but it was always in a playful and taunting way. He shut off his mic and leaned back with a huff. Spoiler curled her legs up to her chest under his jacket to keep herself warm and let a few moments of silence go by before finally speaking.

“You alright? You seem really tense.” She hadn’t known him long and couldn’t see under the helmet, but she’d learned a few things about body language from Cassandra Cain. His flirtatious and playful demeanor had dropped ever since they started the stake out. Now he was quiet and giving off a few tells of being on edge, bouncing knees and constant knuckle cracking were obvious ones.

“I’m fine. I just want to get my hands on this pile of garbage and put him in six feet in the ground.” He said. Spoiler wasn’t sure why she was surprised, but the thought of killing the Joker never crossed her mind as being part of the plan.

“Why?” she asked plainly.

“Because if I don’t, he’s just going to hurt more people and ruin more lives.” He said with frustration in his voice.

“I mean… why is this so personal to you?” She could feel she was treading on thin ice, but she wanted to try to talk him out of killing anyone tonight if she could.

“The others haven’t told you about how I died, did they?” Red Hood asked.

“They… don’t really talk about you at all. Once in a while Nightwing will say “Just don’t die” before a mission, but that’s about it…” Spoiler said sheepishly, not wanting to anger him.

“Well, if I don’t kill the Joker right away, you can ask him. I’m sure he’ll say it’s a funny story.” His words were venomous and sarcastic, making Spoiler regret bringing it up.

“Red, whatever happened, killing isn’t going to fix it…” she started, feeling the need to push him a little more in order to reach him.

“You’re starting to sound like your old teammates there, blondie. This isn’t about fixing what’s happened in the past, this is about preventing what could happen in the future. If you don’t get that, then maybe you shouldn’t be here.” Red Hood looked at her from under the helmet.

Spoiler didn’t say anything else, a bit shocked at his response. They sat in awkward silence and it started to seep in for Red Hood that he had snapped a bit too quickly. Suddenly they heard a loud explosion in front of them with a bright ball of fire coming from the base of the ferris wheel that Arsenal was on top of. It started to lean over to one side like it was about to topple over. They both jumped to their feet, their instincts telling them to run towards the fire to see if their teammates were okay.

Just as Red Hood was about to take off in a dash, the lights overhead on the carousel turned on. The ride had been broken down, but the bulbs in their section were conveniently bright and new. The two of them froze in place, the sudden light blinding to their unadjusted eyes. Spoiler wasn’t familiar with what a rifle being cocked sounded like, but Red Hood was.

“Get down!” He yelled as he tackled her to the ground. An eruption of gunfire followed their decent, raining splintered wood and metal shrapnel over them as they slammed to the floor. After taking a split second to make sure Spoiler was under him, Red Hood drew his gun and fired at each of the light bulbs overhead. One by one they popped but even as the last one went out the gunfire continued. On top of all the shooting, the ferris wheel had fallen on it’s side, sending a large cloud of dust and dirt their way.

Spoiler started to panic in the midst of all the action, things were falling on her at weird angles and she wasn’t sure if they were bullets or debris. She wanted to scream but Red Hood had placed his hand over her mouth just before she could. As quick as the attack started, it stopped and a few moments of silence went by.

“Did we get them?” A voice quietly asked in the darkness.

“The red helmet guy should be full of holes.” Another voice whispered.

“I think I tagged the purple one.” A third voice said.

“We should make sure. Anyone got a spare clip?” A fourth called out.

There was a sound of guns being reloaded and in an instant, Red Hood jumped up and procured a flashlight from his belt. Shining it onto their attackers, he pulled the trigger multiple times as they were distracted like deer in headlights. From the ground, Spoiler could see all four of the gunmen fall to the floor, groaning in pain. Red Hood aimed the light at her, looking her over before speaking from the darkness.

“Are you hurt?” He asked. He offered his hand to help her up, but it took her a few seconds to recompose herself before taking it. “Come on, we have to go check on Arsenal and Starfire.”

“You didn’t… you didn’t kill them, did you?” She asked, following him. He shined the light onto the four of them to reassure her as they walked away.

“I should have. But no, just shots in their arms and legs.” He said. There was blood, and lots of it. She sighed in her head, thinking at least it was a step in the right direction. As they started walking, a very familiar voice came through their earpieces.

“Hellooo, is this thing on?” The clown prince of Gotham howled on the other end of their radios. “Well, if it is, come swing by and say hello in the fun house! Your two friends are here early to the party, but there’s plenty of maiming left to go around!” The Joker laughed on the other end and Spoiler saw Red Hood visibly shaking from being so tense. Without saying a word, he started limping towards the entrance door they’d been watching all night.

“Did you get hit..?” She said, inspecting his side for gunshot wounds.

“I’m fine. The armor absorbed most of it.” He said, brushing her off. “Come on, we need to get Arsenal and Starfire.”

********Present********

The basement was cold, but Jason still didn’t put his shirt back on. He just sat on the floor with his back pressed up against the cold brick wall. Stephanie sat next to him, changed into plain black sweatpants and a purple hoodie. She had just finished wrapping gauze around his knuckles as she leaned against the wall next to him and brought her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs as she watched him with her head turned.

“Are you okay in there..?” She asked quietly. Was he in shock? He’s been silent ever since the fun house. She didn’t know what else she could do or say. Long moments of silence passed over them before she finally let her head rest on her knees, still watching him.

“Batman “fired” me. He told me I couldn’t be Robin anymore. He said I needed time to mourn the loss of my mother.” Jason started speaking quietly.

“She died right before I became Robin. But after I collected some of the things from our old house, I found out that she wasn’t my real mother. My real mother was possibly alive and working in Ethiopia. So I ran away and tried to find her.” He cleared his throat and started talking a little louder now as the memories came back to him.

“After some traveling, I run into Batman. I thought he was there to help me, but that wasn’t the case. He was tracking down the Joker. I should’ve known. The villain was always more important to him than I was.” Jason closed his eyes and sighed. Stephanie just remained quiet and reached over to hold his hand again, squeezing it lightly again to tell him she was there for support.

“I found my real mom. It turns out she was working for the Joker. But when I tried to talk her out of that mess, the Joker captured us and beat me with a crowbar. “

“Jason…” Stephanie finally spoke. “You don’t have to—“

“No, I have to get this out. If you and I are going to do this tomorrow, you have to know why I hate this so much.” Jason said.

********Earlier********

“Welcome, welcome, one and all, to Joker’s room of fun and mayhem!” The Joker yelled as he stood on an elevated stage. Red Hood and Spoiler were standing about fifteen feet away from him in a darkened auditorium-like room. The Joker’s arms were outstretched in his purple suit as if he was welcoming them to his private club, though the place was more run down and full of broken amusement park items more than anything.

“Ah, Red Hood. So good to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you and your work in Gotham, though I gotta say… I’m not impressed. It is kind of rude to take someone else’s old criminal name, even if they aren’t using it anymore.” He continued, chuckling at the end.

“Cut the small talk. Where are my friends?” Red Hood asked.

“My, you just aren’t one for manners, are you? You take my old name, come to my neighborhood to spy on me, injure my welcoming comittee, then crash my party without bringing any gifts?” The Joker said, faking shock and disappointment.

“I’ve got a gift for you. A one way ticket to hell if you keep this up. I’m not going to ask again.” Red Hood said as he drew his gun and aimed it at the clown. Spoiler worried about where this was going, hoping he wouldn’t have to use his gun again.

“Hm. All work and no play then, huh?” The Joker said shrugging. He pulled out a remote from his pocket and pressed a button on it, causing a large projector screen to roll out behind him. Once it was down, the screen came on and it showed Arsenal and Starfire being forced into large canisters. Spoiler recognized them immediately, they were the stasis tubes that the Reach had used to abduct people with.

“As you can see, they’re fine. For now. They might be getting a bit sleepy soon, though. Or hysterical. I can’t remember if I attached the knock out gas or the laughing gas to their tanks.” A laugh followed.

“You think I won’t shoot you? Let them go right now.” Red Hood said, his voice a rough growl from under his helmet.

“Ooohoohoo, big bad scary wolf you are. Kill me now, and you won’t see them again. Is my life really worth your two friends to you?” The Joker leaned forward, his wide smile shrunk to a small and smug grin as he looked down at them. Red Hood’s hand holding the gun was steady, but Spoiler saw the other body language. He was just emitting pure rage which terrified her. He pulled the trigger, sending a bullet whizzing past the Joker’s ear, but the clown didn’t flinch. Instead he roared with laughter, already claiming victory.

“Ah, didn’t think so, old chum.” Joker said, standing up straight again, dancing a bit as he did so.

“If you want your friends back, you’ve gotta do something for me. Earlier today, Bane stole a shipment of weapons from the military. It’s arriving at Gotham Harbor tomorrow night, and I want you two to take care of the thugs that’re going to be guarding it.” Joker said.

“Why can’t you send your guys get it?” Spoiler asked since Red Hood was probably just glaring from under his helmet..

“Well, dear, if my guys are seen stealing the shipment from him, that would start a gang war, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?” The Joker asked rhetorically. He reached into his pocket and took out a tiny radio device, holding it up and waving it to them.

“If you two survive, you give me a call on this. Then we’ll talk about your friends here on the silver screen… So? Whaddaya say?” Joker’s wide pale grin came back because he already knew the answer. This wasn’t a negotiation.

********Present********

“I was tied up and bleeding on the floor when he tells me Batman isn’t coming for me. Even though there’s a bomb right under my feet, there’s also a nuclear missile that’s about to be launched somewhere else. And it killed me inside because I knew it was true. Of course Batman needs to do the right thing and save the millions that could be trouble. But I didn’t give up. I struggled on the floor with broken bones and a punctured lung trying to get my mother to safety.”

Stephanie had let go of his hand only to wrap her left arm around his shoulders and hold him close, her right hand pressed to his head gently running through his hair. He sank into her, his arms loosely around her waist, eyes still closed as he talked quietly again.

“I remember the heat from the explosion as the bomb went off. Then everything went black. And then the next thing I knew, I was digging my way out of a coffin. I’d been dead for six months, and I’d already been replaced by another Robin while the Joker still ran free.” Jason said,

“And to think, this madman has my friends captive and has me working for him now…” Jason said quietly, sounding completely broken. Stephanie wasn’t sure if he was going to cry or yell or what, but she found herself holding back tears as she listened.

“I’m so sorry this happened to you…” She whispered. “We’ll get them back. I promise.”

The two of them sat like that on the floor with Stephanie holding him in silence.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie and Jason may have a rough night ahead of them, but they take their time during the day to enjoy the quiet before the storm.   
> (You don’t really need to read the previous chapters to enjoy this one)
> 
> Author’s note: I tried to make it short and sweet, but idk how it ended up being 2,000 words long. I’m sorry if it was kinda boring, but I thought these two deserved a break. There’s going to be about three or four more chapters after this and it’s all serious business from here on out. This might be my last chapter for a while since NYCC is coming up and I’ve gotta make preparations for that.
> 
> I do intend to finish this story and I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far! And I hope this chapter can hold you guys over till next time :)

“Stephanie…” She heard a voice whisper into her ear, thinking it was just a dream.

“Stephanie, wake up.” It continued, slightly raising her from her hazy sleep.

“Mmm… Five more minutes.” Steph mumbled. Her eyes were closed and she could feel warm breath against her face after a hand brushed loose strands of her hair away. The hand lingered on her face, and for a moment she thought it was her mom waking her up for school. She felt the person’s arm lift off her and groaned again in discontent as the warm and cozy arm was replaced by a comforter.

Another twenty minutes passed before she was more awake thanks to the sporadic banging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. Stephanie rubbed her eyes before sitting up and looking around.

“Couch. Someone else was on it with me. Couldn’t be mom. Slept with them.” She thought to herself. More rummaging from the kitchen got her attention and Steph could see Jason through the doorway wearing nothing but his boxers. After taking a second to enjoy the view, she remembered now, they were in the basement and she’d taken him up here to sleep. She must’ve fallen asleep holding him. Lifting the blanket up to get off the couch, she felt the cool air hit her bare legs.

“…What happened to my pants?” She looked around, vaguely remembering that she took them off in the middle of the night because cuddling with Jason under the blankets had gotten too hot. After a few moments, she gave up on the search and got up from the couch to join Jason in the kitchen. Thankfully her hoodie was long enough to cover the tops of her legs since it was cold in her house.

“Morning.” Stephanie said as she stood next to him while he was mixing some things together in a bowl. She wasn’t really surprised he’d be up early, Robins were conditioned to work on a small amount of sleep.

“Morning.” Jason said in a just-got-out-of-bed voice which Stephanie smiled at. “Hope you don’t mind me going through your cabinets so I could make breakfast.”

“Not at all. A guest that cooks and sleeps on the couch? You should stay over more often.” She said, turning on the coffee machine. “What’re you making?”

“Waffles.” Said Jason.

“Mmm. I’ve never had waffles before.” She said sleepily, pulling up a kitchen stool next to him so she could sit and observe.

“You poor sheltered child. You’re missing out! Alfred used to make these for me all the time.” Said Jason.

“I’m sure I’ll love them. Do you need any help?” She asked.

“No, I’ve got this.” He said as he finished up the stirring. “Listen, about last night. Thanks. I really needed to get it out of my system. I haven’t talked to anyone about what happened… not even Roy.”

Stephanie just smiled as she looked up at him, her hand fixing his bed hair a bit before giving him a reassuring hug. Jason hugged back and she felt slightly guilty for enjoying the fact that he was practically naked, but as she pressed her face against his shoulder, there was that warm cozy feeling again from when she’d woken up.

“You’re welcome. And like I promised, we’ll get Roy and Kory back.” She said with a smile as her hand gently ran through the hair on the back of his head.

It only took Jason a few more minutes to finish making the waffles. Stephanie was setting the table in the dining room when the lock to her front door clicked loudly. They looked at each other, wide eyed in panic. Stephanie quickly peeked out the dining room to see her mother coming through the front door. Steph turned back to tell Jason to hide, but luckily he was already gone.

“Stephanie! I’m home!” Crystal Brown called out, dropping her things off by the doorway.

“Hey mom!” She shouted as she ran up to her and hugged her, trying to keep her there long enough for Jason to find a good hiding place. “You got the day off?”

“Yeah, I have to go back tonight though.” She said as she took her jacket off and started for the kitchen. “What’re you cooking? It smells great.”

“Oh. I, uh… made some waffles for breakfast.” Steph said sheepishly with a smile.

“Great, I’m starving.” Said Crystal as she got a plate for both of them. Stephanie got two cups of coffee ready when she noticed the door to the basement was slightly ajar. Mentally sighing with relief, at least Jason was safe down there for now.

The two of them sat in the dining room eating and making small talk. Stephanie didn’t like to lie to her mother, but she made up a story about how she hung out with Cassandra Cain for most of the previous day. Crystal didn’t want to worry Stephanie about how crazy the hospital had been getting with the war, but things might spread from Metropolis to Gotham soon and that maybe it’d be a good idea for her to stay at Cassandra’s place so she wouldn’t be alone.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll probably stay over tonight.” Stephanie said, relieved her mother was giving her an excuse to not be home at night, just in case missions would be running late with Jason.

“Alright, sweetie. I’m gonna get some sleep while I can. Thanks for breakfast! If you stay over at Cassandra’s tonight, tell her I said hello.” Crystal said as she kissed her daughter on the head.

Stephanie watched as her mother walked up the stairs before darting down to the basement to get Jason. She was walking blindly since her eyes weren’t used to the dark just yet. A freezing hand suddenly touched her thigh as she rounded the corner and she had to keep herself from yelping. Jason on the other hand was chuckling as he kneeled in the dark.

“Oooh, got you good. We gotta work on your alertness.” He said, standing triumphantly with a grin on his face.

“I hope that was worth it, because I’ve got some bad news for you.” She said, putting a finger on his chest. “My mom ate your waffles.”

“She WHAT?” Jason said, mocking a pained expression.

“If it’s any consolation, they were pretty good.” She said.

“Nooo, not my waffles!” Jason just continued to fake cry.

“Shhh!” Stephanie laughed and put her hand over his mouth. “Stop trying to get me in trouble!”

Neither of them moved as Stephanie held her hand over his mouth. She could tell he was still smiling and lightly laughing from under it and she made no effort to not do the same, though both of them were waiting for the other to move first. Jason finally gave up and as a sign of defeat he lightly pressed his lips against the palm of her hand to get it off. Stephanie kept her smile as she patted him on the head.

“Good boy.” She said.

“So… what now?” He asked. Stephanie gave it a moment’s thought before answering.

“Get your clothes on, we’ll go back to the hotel.” She said. Jason arched an eyebrow as she just winked at him and started back up the stairs.

********Hours later********

“This is not what I was thinking of when you said you wanted to get hot and sweaty with me, Steph.” He said as he dodged a kick.

“To be fair, I never said hot and sweaty.” She said as she continued to throw kicks his way, each being avoided, caught or blocked.

The two gone back to the hotel in their workout clothes and cleared out the living room area to train in. Stephanie was in a tank-top and shorts and Jason just in shorts. He’d put on some aggressive music on the radio saying it was to help pump them up and get them in the mood. It was more of a distraction for Stephanie, but she worked around it. Even if she couldn’t become an expert martial artist in one afternoon, she wanted to at least get some moves down so she wouldn’t be a liability for Jason during their mission later that night.

Stephanie swung at him, but Jason caught her wrist. She tried following up with her other hand, but he grabbed that too and used the momentum to spin her around so she was caught in an embrace with her back pressed against his chest.

“Alright, you have a few options you can do here. If you think you can use the back of your head to break the guy’s nose, you can try that. At the very least, he’ll be dazed for a second. If he doesn’t let go…” Jason started. “Get your foot a little behind mine… and try to shift your wei-wait—!”

Stephanie pressed her backside into him, lingering just a bit before shifting her weight to one side so she could throw him over her shoulder. As Jason hit the floor in front of her with the air knocked out of him, she quickly rolled onto him to pin him down.

“Did I do it right?” She asked, smiling as her hands held his down.

“Oof. Yeah, that was rather painful.” He admitted before sharply inhaling. “You’re getting better at improvising.”

“Well, I’ve got a pretty good teacher.” Stephanie said, wiggling her hips on top of him slightly.

“I hope you don’t plan to actually do this if you get a criminal on the ground.” He said as he gave her hands a squeeze, their fingers intertwined.

“I’d use my hands and elbows to knock the guy out and move to the next target.” She let go of one of his hands and patted his chest before standing up and pulling him up with her.

“Do you really have to listen to this angry music when you train?” Stephanie asked while grabbing a nearby towel and scrunching her nose a bit in distaste of his music of choice.

“It gets me amped and angry. It helps me prepare for a night of fighting.” He said as he sat and drank from a glass of water.

“Fighting crime doesn’t have to always be done angrily. You can have fun while doing it, y’know. I bet you did when you were younger.” She said hesitantly adding that last part.

“The only fun I have now is making the bad guys sweat a bit when they see me.” He said.

“Jason… Everything doesn’t have to be about fear. There’s room in our line of work for hope too.” She said, trying to reach out to him.

“Hope that the bad guys will change their ways if I simply turn them over to the corrupt cops? Right.” He said, completely dismissing her point.

She hated how their views on crime fighting were so different. She could see from his point of view just fine, but that didn’t mean it was the best way of thinking. And deep down she knew he could see it from her point of view. He had to have at one point if he was a Robin.

Stephanie walked over to the radio, changing the station from his angry music and searched for a station that played something more lighthearted. When she found a song she’d recognized, she started singing and dancing her way back over to him.

“Whyyy do you fill me up? Buttercup baby, just to let me down.” She sang as she took Jason by the hand and started to dance with him.

“Whaaat are you doing?” He asked.

“C’mon. We prepped your way. Just give my way a shot. I know you at least know the chorus.” She said with a smile, forcing him to sway with the music with her. “Worst of all, you never call baby, like you say you will. But I love you still.”

Jason was hesitant at first, his arms swayed because of her but he didn’t move on his own. But Stephanie could see he was giving in, ever so slowly. His body started to move in sync with hers and though she had to make him twirl her the first few times, he’d started to do it on his own. Jason might not’ve been singing with her, but Stephanie felt her heart melt a bit as she saw a genuine smile spread across his face by the end of it. There was hope for him after all, and they spent the next couple of songs dancing together.


End file.
